A suspected Taliban member that was captured by the members of 3rd platoon, Apache Company 2-87 Infantry, 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, NY, is being interrogated at the COP Tangi

August 09

ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Pakistan's Taliban appeared in turmoil Sunday after reports of a deadly shootout between contenders to replace the shadowy movement's leader, who is believed to have been killed in a US drone attack.

Intelligence officials said Friday that Baitullah Mehsud, who had a five-million-dollar bounty on his head, was killed in the US missile attack. Pakistan's government says it is still seeking confirmation.

There were then unconfirmed reports of a deadly shooting at a meeting of top Taliban commanders who convened to discuss the choice of a successor to Mehsud.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the reports from the meeting in the lawless region of South Waziristan were being investigated.

The commanders were reportedly Hakimullah Mehsud, a deputy to Baitullah Mehsud and the warlord's main spokesman, and Wali-ur Rehman, a senior commander in Mehsud's umbrella Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) movement.

"We have reports that there was fighting between Wali-ur Rehman and Hakimullah.... I said earlier that one of them is dead. I will not disclose the name. I am seeking verification," Malik told private Pakistani TV channel Geo.

"The (shooting) incident took place on Friday and I said in the National Assembly the same day that there was internal fighting between Wali-ur Rehman and Hakimullah," he said.

However, someone claiming to be Hakimullah Mehsud called up media outlets on Saturday to claim that Baitullah Mehsud was still alive. The two men are part of the same tribe.

Despite the apparent internal turmoil among the Taliban, security analyst Hasan Askari warned the threat was not over and said Pakistani authorities would have to re-establish control in the tribal areas.

"The current situation practically shows that the government also does not really have access to the area, which makes it difficult to verify the information that is coming through diverse sources," Askari said.

However, he said he believed that the TTP had "entered an uncertain phase due to a leadership crisis which may heighten internal conflict".

He was at the top of the Pakistani government's most-wanted list, having been implicated in the 2007 assassination of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, whose husband is now president.

He went on to lead a campaign of suicide bombings, assassinations and insurgent attacks that swept out of the border tribal areas into the Swat valley, threatening Islamabad.

The US Central Intelligence Agency, with the tacit cooperation of Islamabad, has carried out dozens of attacks in Pakistan using unmanned Predator and Reaper drones over the past year, but declines to discuss the strikes publicly.

Asked what would be the impact of Mehsud's death on the TTP, Askari said: "This can reduce its terrorist activities for the time being.

"But the overall threat of extremism and terrorism based in the tribal areas will continue to haunt the Pakistani state and society for some time."

Northwest Pakistan's anarchic tribal areas have been beset by violence since neighbouring Afghanistan's Taliban regime was toppled by the 2001 US-led invasion, prompting hundreds of fighters to flood the region.

The confusion of recent days betrayed the Pakistani government's lack of information about the region, according to another security analyst, Imtiaz Gul.

"The remoteness of the area and the absence of a government presence has resulted in controversy, both on whether Baitullah Mehsud has been killed and whether his commanders pulled out guns on each other," he told AFP.

At least 11 people have been killed in the latest violence in Taliban hotspots of northwest Pakistan, officials said.

A gunfight late Saturday between militants and supporters of a pro-government tribal elder killed six militants and two tribesmen in the Mohmand tribal region near the Afghan border, they said.

Separately, two civilians and a policeman were killed when militants ambushed a police convoy in the northwestern town of Bannu on Sunday.